Villar: UN fact-finding mission on trade unionists’ killings timely

Sen. Manny Villar yesterday welcomed the high-level fact-finding mission of the United Nations’ (UN) International Labor Organization (ILO) to investigate labor rights abuses, particularly violations of trade union rights in the country.

The fact-finding mission was triggered by a complaint by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor movement before the ILO which found the surge of killings of labor leaders and activists from 2004 to 2008 as alarming.

“This is really a welcome development, there have been so many complaints of killings, harassments and violations of workers’ rights. The independent investigation that will be conducted by ILO’s fact-finding mission will make a difference and is expected to yield results,” Villar said.

The ILO’s eight-day investigation, slated to start Sept. 22, would focus on “serious allegations of the murder of trade unionists, death threats, arrests of trade union leaders in connection with their trade union activities, widespread impunity related to violence against trade unionists and the militarization of workplaces in export processing zones and special economic zones.”

Villar lamented the sorry plight of organized labor in a country that “is gaining notoriety as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for many professions and people—journalists, lawyers, workers, and trade unionists. It is time to change this negative image and reputation of our country.”

“Hopefully, the outcome of the ILO investigation will pave the way for penalizing and prosecuting the perpetrators of labor crimes. The number of labor-related violations has significantly risen over the years and is already a cause for alarm. There are so many trade union members that are still missing,” Villar added.

According to International Trade Union Confederation’s 2009 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, the Philippines ranks No. 1 in Asia and No. 3 in the world in terms of the number of trade unionists killed in the past year.

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights also recorded 70 killings and two cases of enforced disappearances in the labor sector from 2004 to 2008.

The KMU said a total 92 trade union leaders had been murdered since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

In his earlier statement, KMU information officer Wendell Gumban said that at the very least, the ILO mission would “reveal” to the international community the violations committed by the government on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, which the Philippines has ratified and vowed to observe.

The Arroyo government earlier refused to acknowledge the ILO’s fact-finding mission as it told the ILO that many of those killed were insurgents using the labor rights issue as cover. It even asked the ILO to make “a distinction should be made between legitimate trade union activities….and the commission of crimes against the State that the State has the right to prevent.”

But it finally relented to open the country’s doors to the fact-finding mission.

It was learned that the ILO mission itinerary would include inspection of two major manufacturing plants in Central and Southern Luzon and visits to the families of victims and survivors of extra-judicial killings. –Daily Tribune